Metabolomic Plasma Profile of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients

The analysis of blood metabolites may help identify individuals at risk of having COPD and offer insights into its underlying pathophysiology. This study aimed to identify COPD-related metabolic alterations and generate a biological signature potentially useful for screening purposes. Plasma metabolomic profiles from 91 COPD patients and 91 controls were obtained using complementary semi-targeted and untargeted LC-MS approaches. Univariate analysis identified metabolites with significant differences between groups, and enrichment analysis highlighted the most affected metabolic pathways. Multivariate analysis, including ROC curve assessment and machine learning algorithms, was applied to assess the discriminatory capacity of selected metabolites. After adjustment for major potential confounders, 56 metabolites showed significant differences between COPD patients and controls. The enrichment analysis revealed that COPD-associated metabolic alterations primarily involved lipid metabolism (especially fatty acids and acylcarnitines), followed by amino acid pathways and xenobiotics. A panel of 10 metabolites, mostly related to lipid metabolism, demonstrated high discriminatory performance for COPD (ROC-AUC: 0.916; 90.1% sensitivity and 89% specificity). These findings may contribute to improving screening strategies and a better understanding of COPD-related metabolic changes. However, our findings remain exploratory and should be interpreted with caution, needing further validation and mechanistic studies.

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Publication Details

Journal
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Published
2025-05-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26104526
Citations
6
Primary Topic
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
9.11

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article

Metabolomic Plasma Profile of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients

Luis Seijó, Carme Casadevall, Germán Peces‐Barba, Sergi Pascual-Guàrdia et al.
6 citations
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research
9.11
article

Metabolomic Plasma Profile of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients

Luis Seijó, Carme Casadevall, Germán Peces‐Barba, Sergi Pascual-Guàrdia, Bella Agranovich, Esther Barreiro, José Luís López-Campos, Cesar Jessé Enríquez-Rodríguez, Judith García‐Aymerich, Eduard Monsó, Juan José Soler‐Cataluña, Ciro Casanova, Àlvar Agustí, Joaquim Gea, Rosa Faner, Borja G. Cosío, Ifat Abramovich, Salud Santos, Ady Castro-Acosta, Ramon Camps-Ubach
article en
6 citations

Abstract

The analysis of blood metabolites may help identify individuals at risk of having COPD and offer insights into its underlying pathophysiology. This study aimed to identify COPD-related metabolic alterations and generate a biological signature potentially useful for screening purposes. Plasma metabolomic profiles from 91 COPD patients and 91 controls were obtained using complementary semi-targeted and untargeted LC-MS approaches. Univariate analysis identified metabolites with significant differences between groups, and enrichment analysis highlighted the most affected metabolic pathways. Multivariate analysis, including ROC curve assessment and machine learning algorithms, was applied to assess the discriminatory capacity of selected metabolites. After adjustment for major potential confounders, 56 metabolites showed significant differences between COPD patients and controls. The enrichment analysis revealed that COPD-associated metabolic alterations primarily involved lipid metabolism (especially fatty acids and acylcarnitines), followed by amino acid pathways and xenobiotics. A panel of 10 metabolites, mostly related to lipid metabolism, demonstrated high discriminatory performance for COPD (ROC-AUC: 0.916; 90.1% sensitivity and 89% specificity). These findings may contribute to improving screening strategies and a better understanding of COPD-related metabolic changes. However, our findings remain exploratory and should be interpreted with caution, needing further validation and mechanistic studies.

International Journal of Molecular SciencesVol. 26(10)
Universidad de La Laguna (ES), Universitat de València (ES), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES), Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (IL), Hospital Universitario de Canarias (ES), Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge (ES), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (ES), Hospital Universitario 12 De Octubre (ES), Hospital Clínic de Barcelona (ES), Hospital Arnau de Vilanova (ES), Health Research Institute of the Balearic Islands (ES), Clinica Universidad de Navarra (ES), Institute of Research and Innovation Parc Tauli (ES), Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ES), Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío (ES), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (ES), Fundació Clínic per a la Recerca Biomèdica (ES), Universitat de les Illes Balears (ES), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (ES), Universitat de Barcelona (ES), Universidad de Sevilla (ES)
Fundació Catalana de Pneumologia, European Commission, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Sociedad Española de Neumología y Cirugía Torácica, Societat Catalana de Pneumologia, Instituto de Salud Carlos III
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research
9.11
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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